Paul Beatty's "The Sellout," a stinging satire of race and class in the United States, has won the Man Booker Prize -- the first time an American has taken the prestigious fiction award.

Judges said Beatty’s provocative book was a satire to rank with the classics, and as timely as the evening news. (Reuters)

Paul Beatty’s “The Sellout,” a stinging satire of race and class in the United States, has won the Man Booker Prize — the first time an American has taken the prestigious fiction award.

Judges said Beatty’s provocative book was a satire to rank with the classics, and as timely as the evening news.

Historian Amanda Foreman, who chaired the judging panel, said the book “plunges into the heart of contemporary American society, and with absolutely savage wit — the kind I haven’t seen since (Jonathan) Swift or (Mark) Twain.”

“The Sellout” is set in a rundown Los Angeles suburb called Dickens, where the residents include the last survivor of the Little Rascals and the book’s narrator, Bonbon, an African American man on trial at the US Supreme Court for attempting to reinstate slavery and racial segregation.

The book has been likened to the comedy of Richard Pryor and Chris Rock, and Beatty goes where many authors fear to tread. Racial stereotypes, offensive speech and police violence are all subject to his scathing eye.

Foreman said “The Sellout,” which mixes pop culture, philosophy and politics with humor and anger, sets out to “eviscerate every social taboo.”

“This is a book that nails the reader to the cross with cheerful abandon,” she said. “That is why the book works — because while you’re being nailed, you’re being tickled.”

The five judges met for a marathon four hours yesterday to choose the winner from among six finalists, whittled down from 155 submissions. Foreman said the decision for Beatty’s work was unanimous.

Founded in 1969 and previously open only to writers from Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth, the Booker expanded in 2014 to include all English-language authors.

There were fears in Britain’s literary world that the change would bring US dominance to a prize whose previous winners include Salman Rushdie, Ben Okri, Margaret Atwood and Hilary Mantel. But the 2014 and 2015 winners were Australia’s Richard Flanagan and Jamaica’s Marlon James.

One other American novel was among the finalists: Ottessa Moshfegh’s bleak character study “Eileen”

Bookies had considered Beatty a longshot. The favorite was Canada’s Madeleine Thien for “Do Not Say We Have Nothing,” the story of two families roiled by China’s tumultuous history during the 20th century.